Tuesday, May 25, 2004

Stereotype

Yet if Mr. Kerry tries to woo the testosterone crowd, he risks losing support from the party's base, including women and minorities, said John B. Judis, co-author of 'The Emerging Democratic Majority' and a visiting scholar at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace.

"The only thing he hasn't done is sit down with a six-pack and chew tobacco with them," said Donna Brazile, a veteran Democratic strategist and Mr. Gore's campaign manager in 2000.

But white men, more than other demographic groups, tend to rally around a sitting president at a time of war, said Jeffrey Bell, a longtime Republican strategist.

Iraq may be issue No. 1, but white men are susceptible to a populist message.

"White males, especially working class males, care about their jobs, and they care about things like health care," Ms. Brazile said.

To be competitive, she said, the Kerry campaign must aggressively court this sports channel audience.

The best idea, he said, is to let the manly symbols speak for themselves.

"My proposal is that the Kerry campaign run a 30-second ad which is nothing but John Kerry sitting on a couch and eating pretzels without involving paramedics at all," Mr. Katz said. "Guys can't help but be impressed by that, if he can get to the bottom of a bag of pretzels without someone having to call an ambulance."